Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Greenville County Sheriff's Office arrives on scene as investigators work on the Wofford Road property in Woodruff where a missing Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff

Spartanburg County Coroner mobile investigations unit arrives at the Wofford Road property in Woodruff on Friday where a missing Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff

Cpl. Ken Blakely, an Anderson city investigator, stands by the front gate of the Wofford Road crime scene in Woodruff on Friday, while others talk to the family of Charlie David Carver's family. Ken Ruinard / Independent Mail

The ghastly story of a woman kept in captivity for two months and found “chained like a dog” inside a metal storage container took another grim turn on Friday when cadaver dogs led searchers to human remains on the 95-acre property where she was found, and the sheriff said investigators believe they may be dealing with the work of a serial killer.

The 45-year-old at the center of that investigation, Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he was arraigned Friday on a charge of kidnapping Kala Brown, 30.

“While Kala is doing well physically, emotionally she's having good moments and bad moments,” her family said in a statement released late Friday. “Right now Kala needs time to process and begin to cope with the events that have occurred. She thanks everyone for their love and support. "

Dressed in gym shorts and what appeared to be the same blue t-shirt seen in his booking photo, Kohlhepp inquired about a public defender and answered "yes sir" to questions from Spartanburg County Magistrate Danny Burns. Burns said it would be up to a circuit court judge to decide what bond should be.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 19.

He has not been charged in any deaths, but 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette said at least one murder charge is likely against Kohlhepp. Brown, he said, has told investigators she watched Kohlhepp shoot and kill her boyfriend, Charles David Carver, 32.

Authorities are not prepared to say whether the body buried in a shallow grave on the property near Woodruff is that of Carver or someone else. Nor have authorities determined whether the individual had been shot, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said at a late-afternoon press conference.

Wright said searchers were led to the body with the help of cadaver dogs, other investigative tools and “God’s grace.”

“It’s possible that it is the work of a serial killer,” the sheriff said. “It’s a deceased person. There could be more.”

Several holes could be seen Friday night near the center of the property where an excavator had dug up the earth. A beige two-story garage stood nearby. Barnette said investigators found a bed with chains around it in the living space above the garage.

A gravel path connected the garage to a dark green shed and storage container where Brown was kept chained. The door to the container was open, and crime scene tape cordoned off the area.

In one clearing, officers could be seen collecting evidence from one of several shallow holes in the ground.

A 6-foot chain link fence circled the entire property, much of which was wooded.

At Friday’s hearing, Barnette described Kohlhepp as a “very, very dangerous individual.”

Investigators also have found numerous weapons, including 9mm handguns with silencers, assault rifles, and an "unbelievable" amount of ammunition.

Brown and Carver were last seen in late August at their Anderson Crossing apartment in Anderson and were reported missing by friends and family the first week of September.

Brown’s cellphone pinged on that property for as long as two days after she was last heard from by friends in Anderson, according to authorities.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright updates the media outside the Wofford Road property in Woodruff where a missing Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container on Thursday. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright updates the media outside the Wofford Road property in Woodruff where a missing Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container on Thursday. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright updates the media outside the Wofford Road property in Woodruff where a missing Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container on Thursday. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/Staff

Kohlhepp was taken into custody on the Wofford Road property Thursday while investigators were executing a search warrant as part of a joint missing-persons investigation with Anderson police related to the case.

Spartanburg investigators were on the property Thursday when they heard Brown banging on the container where she had been kept.

A car that he and Brown were last seen driving was found on the property, Wright said.

Wright said investigators have searched 30 to 40 percent of the 95-acre fenced property on Wofford Road. They planned to continue until dark Friday and to return on Saturday.

Members of Carver's family spent part of the day Friday at the search scene. Nathan Shiflet said he was there because, "I felt led to be there for my brother."

The family issued a statement during the day describing “how wonderful it is Kala has been found, and that she is receiving care and is back with family and friends. The outpouring of concern and affection from the community has been overwhelming and we are very thankful.”

They went on to ask the public to “continue to pray for Kala's healing and for David's safe return as well.”

Kohlhepp, a pilot and real-estate broker, owns the property and lived about nine miles away in a middle-class subdivision on Windsong Way in Moore. He owns a real estate firm in Spartanburg County, employing at least nine agents and listing more than a dozen homes and properties

Brown worked for Kohlhepp cleaning houses before the real estate agent offered them for sale. Carver, her boyfriend, attended Crescent High School in Iva until May 2002, according to David Nixon, the deputy superintendent of Anderson School District Three.

He worked at First Quality Enterprises in Anderson. A spokeswoman at the tissue company's corporate headquarters in New York said she would not disclose any information about Carver, including his position at the plant.

Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender, entered a plea bargain to kidnapping and committing a dangerous crime against children in the first degree in connection with an incident that occurred when he was 15, according to more than 200 pages of Arizona court documents related to the case.

According to the records, Kohlhepp used his father’s handgun to force a 14-year-old neighbor to walk to his home, where he placed duct tape on her in his bedroom, tied her hands and then raped her.

Jail records show that Kohlhepp entered prison in October 1987 and was released in August 2001, serving a 15-year sentence and ending with no parole. After being released from prison, Kohlhepp moved to South Carolina, got a pilot's license, earned a degree at the University of South Carolina Upstate and he began pursuing a real estate career.

Kohlhepp successfully applied for a real estate license in 2006 at a time when real estate agents were required to disclose information about past crimes. The state began requiring background checks for new applications in May 2015, said Lesia Kudelka of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Kohlhepp does not have any formal action stemming from complaints about his decade of real estate work in the state, Kudelka said. She said she could not say whether he had complaints that did not result in formal action.

In applying for his real estate license, Kohlhepp wrote that following a heated argument and breakup with his girlfriend, the two had gone looking for his dog and returned to his house.

Police showed up at the home after having been called by his girlfriend's parents, who were concerned they could not reach her by phone, Kohlhepp wrote.

He said the kidnapping charge stemmed from having a firearm and because "I had told her not to move while we talked this out." Kohlhepp said he had been carrying a gun because he was concerned about crime in the Phoenix area.

Kohlhepp said he earned a GED and an associate degree in computer science while incarcerated. He said his actions after the day of the argument, Nov. 24, 1986, demonstrated his desire to follow the law and do the right thing.

Kohlhepp's application to take the real estate exam was granted and he was licensed on June 30, 2006, about three weeks after he applied.

CLOSE

Authorities are searching property near Woodruff where a 30-year-old Anderson woman was found chained in a metal container Thursday.

Reported by: Mike Burns of the Greenville News, Anna Lee of the Greenville News, Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail, Mike Ellis of the Independent Mail, Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail and Tim Smith of the Greenville News.